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*NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A PLOT TWIST*

I'll be honest with you, i only read this out of a sense of duty because i loved Takano's previous work, truly i couldn't give a fuck about the summary you can see here or elsewhere online. This manga isn't advertised about well, and i can't help but think that it only adds to its power of subversion.
It so cleverly guides you on the well-used narrative paths we've seen so much time that they pass us by frictionlessly, before doing a 180° no scope roundhouse-kick in the gums at the very last page of volume 1 and ... make us question back everything we read so far.

And, because it's well written, it does track.

Now, don't let me give you the idea that it's one of those piece of media that's so centered around its plot twist that the rest is only a build up, for all i know (the second volume is yet to come out in french) it's actually the beginning the good stuff.
Of the gooder stuff.
Because yeah, big plot twist not bait, but the art is classical yet gorgeous, the panelling is discreet yet effective (right now i'm thinking that everything about this manga so far is quite low-key considering the machiavelic plot it just did on me), but most of all the characters and their interactions are excellent.

Anyway, if you don't read shojos or joseis i'm sending thoughts and prayers your way and hope that you'll get better soon <3

lastly, /!\ CONTENT WARNING /!\
i'f you're a tiny little toddler boy with wide, misty eyes and big big feelings in your heart, you might want to know ahead that this manga treats of sexism and is to be understood through feminist lenses, according to the author as well as people with at least two braincells. If those subjects bother you and might make you spoil your briefs while writing rants on social medias, please pass.

Be not afraid of the title, this is a very accessible work as we follow a depressed loser with no ethics that fakes being straight for his job, and as BL enjoyers with a MAL account i think we can all relate to that.

Jokes aside, Maki Marikudo gives and dangerously accurate depictions of how untreated mental illness and low self-esteem issues can fuck up your life and actually turn you into the piece of shit you see in the mirror.

I love me a problematic bisexual, i love me him finding a labradorish gym bro to balance him, but these 3 tomes will most of all ... stay with me for a long time both as a cold call-out like a glass of ice water in the face, and a gentle, judgment-free hug to remind me that life is not over despite of how the past went.

Go get some help if you need it, if not for yourself, do it for the others around you.
You'll make it through, ily <3

It's a weird-ass little manga that'll take you at best a long bathroom-break to complete, what do you even want me to sell you ? I spent more time writing this review than reading it ffs

The premise is intriguing and it ends up being actually pretty funny, you really feel like the author drew their lil thing for their own fun and without thinking much of it, and to me it's the secret ingredient to its inimitable, refreshing and lighthearted taste. I was attached to the characters after two pages and i audibly scoffed on several occasions, which is more than some well-known gag mangas ... got out of my dried-out cynical carcass.

Also the art style is super expressive and half the panel would make for banger reaction-pics.

Overall, i don't think Boys Run the Riot was a good manga. The plot points revolving around fashion were clunky and not engaging at all, making a big part of its reading kind of a drag, but in the end i found it to be only a detail, because Boys Run the Riot is an extremely sincere manga.

Its representation of both the transmasculine and the bad student/school outcast experience is not only realistic, but very precise, sensible, and thus touching.
Felt like an insider's view, really. I've heard myself as a teen say and think what those teen dude think and say.

It wasn't ... a good manga, i've spent some times reading it being kinda to seriously bored, but if only for those several moments were i'd have to put it down and stare at the wall, waiting the vivid reminiscences to pass, and the feeling of being seen and understood it brought me, i'm happy i've read it, and i'd recommend it blindly.